100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com Middle school presents students with new challenges as they make the leap from childhood to adolescence and prepare to step into a broader world. The subjects at school are more demanding, teachers have higher expectations, and homework multiplies. One thing parents can do to help their kids negotiate this often-daunting transition is to equip them with a well-rounded and robust vocabulary. Knowing more sophisticated words—what they mean, how to spell and pronounce them—makes reading easier and writing more expressive. This book focuses on words that students are sure to encounter in the middle school grades. Each word has a dictionary definition and a pronunciation and appears in at least one quotation. Authors quoted include young-adult favorites such as J. K. Rowling, Lois Lowry, Jerry Spinelli, and Gary Soto. Students will discover why these authors have chosen these words, and will see what a difference the right word can make. If students are attentive and persistent in their reading, soon they will be writing with gusto and zeal! Here is a complete list of the words in 100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know: adversary aplomb apprehensive aptitude attentive banish barricade bluff brackish brandish circumference commotion concoction conspicuous contortion counter cunning debris defiance deft destination diminish disdain dismal dispel eavesdrop egregious ember emerge engross exasperation exhilarate falter foresight fragrance furtive grueling gusto habitation hasten headway ignite illuminate impending imperious jabber jargon jostle jut kindle knoll luminous malleable materialize meander meticulous misgivings momentum monotonous multitude muster narrate obscure ominous outlandish persistent pertinent potential precipice pristine pristine quell recluse recuperate replenish repugnant restitution sabotage scarcity scurry serenity sociable somber specimen stamina subside swagger swarm tactic terse translucent uncanny unsightly versatile vigilant vulnerable waft waver weather zeal Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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